Malvern, Pa. — Tom Kinisky was appointed president and CEO of building material maker Saint-Gobain Corp., the North American holding company of the French business that started out making glass for King Louis XIV and the Palace of Versailles.
Kinisky took over the role earlier this year. He is overseeing operations in the United States and Canada, including CertainTeed Corp., Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and several related companies producing abrasives, ceramics and glass.
With five patents to his name, Kinisky said his focus is on growth through investments in research and development, employee training and talent acquisition. Saint-Gobain employs some 14,000 office and factory workers in North America and about half of them will be eligible to retire in the next 12 years.
"Saint-Gobain has been one of the top global innovators for more than 350 years, and North America will continue to play a vital role in the company's innovation legacy, which includes a host of products and materials we rely on in our homes, offices, hospitals, and even other planets to make these spaces healthy, energy efficient, accessible, safe, and aesthetic," Kinisky said in a May 1 news release.
"The key to continuing our storied history of innovation will lie in our ability to unlock the innovation potential of our entire workforce and to attract top talent to join that effort," he continued. "I believe this passion to embed innovation in everything we do can and will lead to disruptive solutions for our customers that will benefit the world at large."
Kinisky has 30 years of experience in research and development. In 1989, he joined Norton Co., which Saint-Gobain acquired in 1990. He spent the next 12 years in various R&D roles and then was named president of Saint-Gobain Crystals in 2002. In 2008 he became president of the performance plastics unit and was responsible for 6,000 employees at 57 manufacturing plants in 22 countries. In this role, he helped open markets to aerospace, transportation and health care. The company says one of very two performance plastic products sold were developed within the last 5 years.
Kinisky also was appointed senior vice president for Saint-Gobain and is a member of the company's global management committee. He has a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Pace University and a master's degree in materials science from New York University.